🏫 TUSD Budget Crisis: Cultural Programs at Risk Despite Proven Success | Student Activists Challenge Colonial School Names
Culturally Responsive Programs Face Reduction Despite Proven Success. Miles ELC Youth Researchers Uncover Disturbing History of School Namesakes
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🏫 Many schools in Tucson might have to reduce important programs that help students understand different cultures, even though these programs show great results. 🏅 Some students found out that their schools are named after people who hurt others in the past. 🤯 They want their schools to have names that reflect kindness and fairness.
🌟 Even though the district needs to save money, some decisions, like cutting buses while spending more on advertising, seem unfair to students and teachers who need the most support. 🚍💰 People in the community are working hard to protect these programs and make sure schools are nice places for everyone. 🤝🏽
🗝️ Takeaways
🎯 CRPI students outperform non-CRPI peers by 6.2 percentile points on standardized tests, yet the department faces budget cuts, including the loss of a master teacher position
🏛️ Students from Miles ELC presented research showing Sam Hughes funded the Camp Grant Massacr,e killing 144 Apache people, and married a 12-year-old Mexican girl, proposing school name changes
💸 TUSD projects a $21 million average annual deficit through 2030 and is implementing 3-6% department cuts and a hiring freeze targeting $5.3 million in salary savings
🌐 Two-Way Dual Language programs in 12 schools earned praise from the US Secretary of Education as "one of the best he's seen across the country," despite funding constraints
📊 District is spending $780 per student on recruitment through KaissaK12 while cutting transportation services, which was identified as a top reason students leave the district
🗳️ The board unanimously approved adding "current or former immigration status" as a protected class in non-discrimination policies
TUSD Governing Board Meeting Analysis - April 15, 2025
¡La lucha sigue! We remain vigilant as the war on public education and culturally responsive teaching intensifies across Arizona. Today we dissect the latest TUSD Governing Board meeting, where budget cuts threaten the very programs that serve our most vulnerable students. At the same time, administrators speak of "right-sizing" and "efficiencies" in polite bureaucratic euphemisms that mask the human cost of austerity.
The Players: Power and Resistance in the Room
The April 15, 2025, TUSD Governing Board meeting featured the usual suspects of district leadership alongside impassioned community advocates fighting to preserve essential programs:
The Power Structure
Jennifer Eckstrom - Board President, who ran the meeting with efficiency, but limited questioning of budget cut proposals
Natalie Luna Rose - Board Clerk, who delivered a deeply personal tribute to the late Congressman Raul Grijalva, revealing she had worked in his office for nearly a decade and crediting him with her political career
Dr. Gabriel Trujillo - Superintendent, recently crowned "Superintendent of the Year" by the Metro Education Commission (one wonders if such accolades come with a responsibility to protect programs serving marginalized students)
Ricardo Hernández - Chief Financial Officer, the bearer of budget cut news, delivered with detached numerical precision
Robert Ross - General Counsel, who advised on legal matters with clinical detachment
The Resistance
Miles ELC Students - Young scholars who presented damning historical research on Sam Hughes (who funded the massacre of 144 Apache people and married a 12-year-old girl) and General Nelson A. Miles (who led military campaigns against indigenous peoples)
Jose Gonzalez - CRPI teacher mentor who reminded the board of the district's dark history: "In the mid and early 20th century, TUSD operated segregated educational tracks known as the infamous 1C program where Mexican American and Mexican children were placed not based on skill and academic ability, but because they spoke Spanish or had a Mexican surname."
Margaret Cheney - Teacher with 20 years in TUSD who read passionate letters defending CRPI: "The TUSD CRPI department is a leading force and beacon of strength and support for not only TUSD students, teachers, and school communities, but indeed for the metropolitan region."
Sal Gabaldon - 50-year education veteran who traced the political attacks on bilingual education and ethnic studies: "There's a line that connects those issues. And it's a line that runs through this hostility towards students of color."
Student Voices: Speaking Truth to Power
The most powerful moments came when students from Miles Exploratory Learning Center presented research on the problematic historical figures their schools are named after. With clarity and moral conviction that many adults lack, these young scholars laid bare the district's complicity in honoring colonial figures:
"Sam Hughes was the person who funded the Camp Grant massacre and approved the plans," stated Georgia Stevie, an eighth-grader. "The Camp Grant massacre killed 144 Apache, and 20 were sold into slavery. Sam Hughes also married a 12-year-old girl, Anastasia Santa Cruz."
This is the man we've chosen to honor with an elementary school name? If adults won't confront this hypocrisy, thank goodness our youth will.
Another student explained that General Miles "commanded many battles against the indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Western U.S. Most of these ended in either their relocations to reservations set aside by the U.S. government that were less than ideal, or death in the case that they refused to comply."
These students proposed renaming Sam Hughes Elementary to "Yoshi Whitman Elementary" (honoring Lieutenant Royal Emerson Whitman, who offered Apache people a safe haven) and renaming Miles ELC after "Black Coyote," a deaf Lakota warrior.
Imagine a school district that actually listens to these voices instead of perpetuating colonial commemorations. What message might that send to our indigenous students?
Lillian Fox: Speaking Truth about Administrative Accountability and Secret Contract Renewals
One of the most pointed interventions during the Call to the Audience came from community advocate Lillian Fox, who leveled a blistering critique of the administration's transparency failures around principal contract renewals. Her testimony exposed a troubling pattern of information being withheld from both the board and the public, effectively neutralizing accountability mechanisms built into Arizona law.
Fox began by directly challenging Superintendent Trujillo's administrative overreach: "The Trujillo has steadily usurped your responsibility. Under Arizona State Statutes, the board is responsible for the spending of TUSD's money."
She methodically outlined a pattern of governance violations, noting: "He published a budget book that you never saw. You never got a presentation on it. It wasn't done until September, and then it had to be fixed in December."
But her most damning revelation concerned item 6.4 on the night's agenda - the approval of Educational Leaders Inc. (ELI) employee contracts, which include principals and assistant principals. Fox exposed how the administration had departed from standard practice by withholding the list of administrators up for renewal from public scrutiny:
"Now he has presented you with a list of people whose contracts he wants renewed, but he didn't make them public. So you got no public input. You weren't even allowed to discuss it with anybody. Those contracts are always published so that the board has the ability, or the public has the ability to give you input."
Moving from procedural critique to specific evidence, Fox presented devastating performance data about an unnamed principal up for renewal: "You have some wonderful principles and you have some real stinkers. This is a stinker. She's been a principal for eight years in this district. Eleven percent of her kids are proficient in reading and English language arts."
The school climate statistics she presented painted a portrait of institutional failure and student suffering:
41% of students reported they don't feel safe in the school
49% reporting being bullied or harassed regularly
43% of staff reported insufficient disciplinary measures to address disruptive behavior
These aren't just numbers—they represent hundreds of children attending a school where basic safety and learning conditions aren't being met, year after year, while the administrator responsible remains unaccountable.
Fox concluded with a direct call to action for the board: "Don't approve anybody tonight and insist that you be given adequate information about every single one of these people, which school they're in, how long they've been there, what they're paid, and what their English language and math proficiency is in their school."
Despite this compelling testimony backed by hard data, the board proceeded to approve the ELI contracts with a 4-0-1 vote (Shaw abstaining). No board member directly addressed Fox's substantive concerns about the hidden contract list or the performance data she presented.
The absence of public information about principal performance represents a critical gap in accountability. When communities lack access to basic data about school leadership performance, power remains firmly concentrated in administrative hands, and marginalized students disproportionately bear the consequences of failed leadership that goes unchallenged.
We must ask ourselves: Who benefits from keeping principal performance data hidden from public view? Certainly not the students in schools where only 11% are proficient in reading—and certainly not the families of children who report being bullied while administrators remain insulated from accountability.
Budget Cuts: The Mathematics of Inequity
The heart of the meeting centered on budget reductions to desegregation programs – cuts that disproportionately impact the district's most vulnerable students. With clinical detachment, administrators outlined a $3 million deficit in desegregation funding and a projected $21 million annual deficit through 2030.
CRPI: Fighting for Survival (Again)
Lorenzo Lopez, Director of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy & Instruction, delivered a compelling defense of a department born from struggle after the unconstitutional dismantling of the Mexican American Studies program.
"CRPI serves two basic functions," Lopez explained. "The culturally relevant curriculum, the courses, which offer courses that present the grade level curriculum and standards from a viewpoint of the African American and Mexican American perspective, and the culturally responsive pedagogy that addresses the social, emotional, and intellectual needs of students as brought into the classroom."
The department's impact is undeniable:
Service to nearly 7,000 CRC students annually
Academic results show CRC students significantly outperforming non-CRC peers on ACT tests
Student growth percentiles are 6.2 points higher than traditional English students
Yet despite these demonstrable successes, CRPI faces cuts, including:
Elimination of one master teacher position
Reduction of summer professional development
Zeroing out of travel funds, national conference budget, and technology
Slashing of instructional materials
The cruel irony isn't lost on us – programs that most effectively serve students of color face cuts while administration continues business as usual. The history of attacking ethnic studies in Arizona continues under a new name: "fiscal responsibility."
Two-Way Dual Language: Success Under Siege
Patricia Sandoval Taylor passionately defended the district's two-way dual language programs operating in 12 schools. She quoted Judge Berry from the unitary status case:
"The district presented evidence that convinces the court that the two-way dual language program is a solid academic program aimed at improving student achievement."
The program has received national recognition, even earning praise from the U.S. Secretary of Education, who visited in October and called it "one of the best he's seen across the country."
Yet this acclaimed program faces budget constraints that limit expansion, despite data proving its effectiveness for both English learners and native English speakers.
Board Member Shaw highlighted many parents' frustration: "I have parents reaching out to me whose students are going into high school who want a bus route, but some of our high schools, many of them don't offer bus routes, you know. We're like, 'Take the city bus or get your parents to take you.' But I worry about our students on the city bus."
This is the invisible violence of austerity – programs that work are starved of resources, transportation barriers keep students from accessing education, and administrators treat the slow dismantling of public education as an accounting exercise rather than a moral crisis.
The Hypocrisy of "Fiscal Responsibility"
While cuts threatened programs serving marginalized students, the board approved a contract with enrollment marketing firm CaissaK12 without batting an eye. Communications Director Karla Escamilla presented the partnership, which costs $780 PER STUDENT recruited.
The goal? Recruiting 350 students at a potential cost of $273,000.
Imagine if those resources went directly into classrooms instead of marketing campaigns. However, in the neoliberal education model, schools must compete for students, just as corporations compete for customers.
The revelation about why students leave TUSD was even more telling: "customer service and transportation services" were the top two reasons cited.
So we cut transportation services while spending hundreds of thousands on recruitment? Make it make sense.
Small Victories: Honoring Those Who Serve
Amid the budgetary doom and gloom came one genuine moment of community celebration. The board unanimously approved naming the Roberts-Naylor K-8 School Library after Evangelina Lugo, a beloved district employee who began volunteering in 1971 and continued serving students long after retirement.
Amanda Marchione, Assistant Principal, shared: "Mrs. Lugo insisted on training me personally to become a TA for her kids. She made it clear she would not suffer any nonsense from me, and I would not suffer any nonsense from her kids."
The 90-year-old Lugo was visibly moved by the surprise recognition, stating simply: "I just like to take care of children and help them. I know that they need a lot of help, and that's what I want to do for them."
In a system increasingly driven by metrics, test scores, and budget spreadsheets, Lugo represents the heart of education—genuine care for children and commitment to the community. If only our policies reflected these values.
Immigration Rights: A Small Step Forward
In a rare positive policy development, the board unanimously approved updates to two critical policies:
Policy AC (Non-Discrimination)
Policy JB (Equal Educational Opportunities and Anti-Harassment)
Both policies now explicitly include "current or former immigration status" as a protected class against discrimination. This change aligns with the district's Immigration Anti-Discrimination policy and represents a small but meaningful protection for vulnerable students and families.
In an era of xenophobic attacks on immigrant communities, these policy changes matter – but true sanctuary requires more than policy language; it requires active defense of immigrant students and families.
The Impossible Choice: Title VI Compliance Vote Reveals Federal Attack on Diversity Programs
In perhaps the most politically revealing moment of the night, the board faced an impossible decision on Item 5.9 – "Authorization to Sign Certification regarding Title VI Compliance." This seemingly bureaucratic agenda item, initially buried in the consent agenda until Board Member Luna Rose pulled it for separate discussion, lays bare the coordinated federal assault on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public education.
The certification document, required by the Department of Education, forces districts like TUSD to acknowledge receipt of a "Reminder of Legal Obligations Undertaken in Exchange for Receiving Federal Financial Assistance" following the Supreme Court's SFFA v. Harvard decision. Make no mistake – this is thinly veiled intimidation targeting schools' diversity initiatives while dangling the threat of withholding up to $72 million in federal funding.
The tension in the boardroom was palpable as Luna Rose voiced her deep reservations about signing what she clearly viewed as capitulation to an administration hostile to educational equity:
"I am really, really hesitant to sign this or to just flat out, I just can't say anything that has to do with dismantling public education from this current administration that we find ourselves under and completely against, and I just wanted to put that on record."
Her body language – shoulders tight, voice firm but restrained – revealed the fury beneath her measured words. This wasn't merely procedural; it was existential.
Board Member Shaw approached the issue with pragmatic resignation, noting that technical compliance with Title VI's non-discrimination language wasn't the issue – the funding implications were:
"As stated, we are in compliance with Title VI and Title VI reads, no person shall on the ground of race, color, or national origin be excluded from participation and be denied the benefits or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance and to vote no on this would be inaccurate. And so, if we voted against it just because, you know, potentially 72 million dollars would be on the chopping block for us and some departments who spoke here tonight, you know, may be at risk for losing funding."
The vote ultimately passed 5-0, with even Luna Rose reluctantly supporting the certification, not because she endorsed the federal power play, but because withholding $72 million would devastate the very programs supporting marginalized students.
This moment perfectly encapsulates the cruel checkmate being imposed on progressive school districts nationwide: Sign documents that pave the way for dismantling diversity initiatives, or watch your funding for vulnerable students disappear. It's administrative warfare against educational equity.
During public comments, community member Amber Paris called out the board for initially placing this consequential item on the consent agenda: "This is disappointing to see an item of this significance presented without discussion and placed on the consent agenda. This isn't just a procedural task. It's a decision that reflects our values and whether we're willing to stand by them when it counts."
Paris continued with words that should haunt every board member: "We know this is part of a broader strategy to intimidate public schools into silence. But we also know that as a district, we have both the right and the responsibility to stand up for the students and educators we serve."
The administrative weaponization of "compliance" is the new frontier in the war against educational equity. Federal officials know they can't openly attack programs serving students of color, so they've created bureaucratic tripwires designed to force impossible choices on school boards while providing political cover for the dismantling of DEI initiatives.
CALL TO ACTION: This battle extends far beyond TUSD. Contact your state representatives and the Arizona attorney general to demand they join other states in challenging federal overreach that threatens funding for marginalized students. The Arizona Department of Education is requiring districts to sign these certifications. Hold them accountable by attending their next board meeting on May 6 in Phoenix. Sign up for public comment and make your voice heard.
Budget Cuts: The Continuing Assault on Public Education
CFO Ricardo Hernández outlined the district's plan to address a projected $21 million annual deficit, including:
A hiring freeze targeting $5.3 million in salary savings
3-6% departmental budget cuts based on proximity to instruction
Reductions that somehow exempt high-level administration
When pressed about where teachers could provide feedback on leadership evaluations, Dr. Trujillo replied that the process remains firmly in administrative hands, with no meaningful mechanism for teacher input.
The power dynamics couldn't be clearer: cuts flow downward toward classrooms while accountability rarely flows upward toward administration.
Board member Shaw raised the possibility of furloughing "central administration, the top dogs as they say" – a suggestion that received polite acknowledgment but little enthusiasm from the superintendent.
The Human Cost Behind the Numbers
Lost in the clinical budget discussions was any meaningful acknowledgment of the human impact of these cuts. Each reduction represents:
Fewer resources for students already marginalized by systemic inequities
Increased workloads for remaining staff (CRPI mentor teacher caseloads will increase from 18 to 20+)
Reduced professional development opportunities for teachers
Limited access to transportation, particularly for high school students
Lorenzo Lopez noted that CRPI master teacher caseloads "far exceed the district average of 12 teachers per mentor teacher," yet another example of how programs serving marginalized students are expected to do more with less.
This is how structural racism operates in education – not through explicit discrimination, but through resource allocation that consistently underserves communities of color while maintaining a veneer of "fiscal responsibility."
Community Resistance: La Lucha Continúa
The spirit of resistance was palpable throughout the meeting. From students challenging historical commemorations of colonial figures to educators defending culturally responsive programs, community members refused to accept cuts to essential services quietly.
Jose Gonzalez reminded the board of TUSD's responsibility: "From the 1968 student walkouts at Tucson High School led by Chicano UofA students, folks like the late Lorraine Lee, Raul Grijalva, Sal Balenegro, and Raul Aguirre. To the 1978 Fisher-Mendoza desegregation order, we fought back and built programs rooted in educational justice."
The struggle for educational equity in Tucson has never been easy – but neither has it ever been abandoned. Each generation picks up the torch and continues the fight.
The Revolution Will Be Organized: Join the Resistance
The struggles highlighted in this meeting aren't isolated incidents—they're part of a coordinated assault on public education, ethnic studies, and culturally responsive teaching across Arizona and the nation. But together, we have the power to resist.
Here's how you can join the movement:
Attend upcoming meetings: The next board meeting is April 29, 2025, featuring GATE discussions and transportation policy changes. Your physical presence sends a powerful message.
Submit public comments: Visit tusd1.org to submit feedback on budget proposals and policy changes before decisions are finalized.
Support student advocacy: The Miles ELC students researching historical injustice and proposing school name changes demonstrate the power of youth leadership. Support their efforts through community organizing.
Share your story: If CRPI, Two-Way Dual Language, or other targeted programs have positively impacted your family, document these experiences and share them widely.
Build coalitions: Connect with local education justice organizations fighting for equitable funding, culturally responsive education, and student-centered policies.
Support The Three Sonorans: Our independent journalism depends on community support. Consider a monthly donation to help us continue exposing injustice and amplifying community voices.
Critical Questions for Our Community
The data clearly shows that programs like CRPI and Two-Way Dual Language are delivering exceptional academic results for historically underserved students. Why are these evidence-based approaches facing cuts rather than expansion? Who benefits from dismantling educational models that successfully serve students of color?
How can our community build power beyond board meetings to ensure that TUSD's programs serving marginalized students aren't sacrificed at the altar of budget austerity? What successful resistance strategies have worked in other districts facing similar attacks?
¡La educación es liberación! Until next time, keep watching the watchers.
This report is brought to you by The Three Sonorans, dedicated to exposing injustice, celebrating resistance, and amplifying the voices of our diverse community. Your support makes our independent journalism possible – consider becoming a monthly contributor. Leave your thoughts in the comments below and join the conversation.
Quotes
"In the mid and early 20th century, TUSD operated segregated educational tracks known as the infamous 1C program, where Mexican American and Mexican children were placed not based on skill and academic ability, but because they spoke Spanish or had a Mexican surname." — Jose Gonzalez, CRPI teacher mentor
"Sam Hughes was the person who funded the Camp Grant massacre and approved the plans. The Camp Grant massacre killed 144 Apache, and 20 were sold into slavery. Sam Hughes also married a 12-year-old girl, Anastasia Santa Cruz." — Georgia Stevie, 8th grade student at Miles ELC
"There's a line that connects those issues. And it's a line that runs through this hostility towards students of color." — Sal Gabaldon, 50-year educator, on political attacks against bilingual education and ethnic studies
"Mrs. Lugo insisted on training me personally to become a TA for her kids. She made it clear she would not suffer any nonsense from me, and I would not suffer any nonsense from her kids." — Amanda Marchione, Assistant Principal, about Evangelina Lugo
"I have parents reaching out to me whose students are going into high school who want a bus route, but some of our high schools, many of them don't offer bus routes, you know. We're like, 'Take the city bus or get your parents to take you.' But I worry about our students on the city bus." — Board Member Sadie Shaw
People Mentioned and Notable Quotes
Jennifer Eckstrom - Board President who ran the meeting
Natalie Luna Rose - Board Clerk who said of Raul Grijalva: "He was my boss and my congressman, but most importantly he was my mentor and he was my friend."
Dr. Gabriel Trujillo - Superintendent, recently named "Superintendent of the Year" by Metro Education Commission
Ricardo Hernández - Chief Financial Officer who presented budget cuts: "The only way we cure a structural deficit is by making both permanent changes to the revenue and the expenditure side of our formula."
Lorenzo Lopez - Director of CRPI who reported: "In total, we serve just under 7,000 CRC students this year alone."
Patricia Sandoval Taylor - Director of Language Acquisition who proudly noted: "The US Secretary of Education visited Ross Scrooge in October, and he said, you should be very proud of your schools. This is one of the best you've seen across the country, and we're watching what Tucson Unified School District is doing."
Evangelina Lugo - 90-year-old retired TUSD employee honored with library naming: "I just like to take care of children and help them. I know that they need a lot of help and that's what I want to do for them."
Martha Salona - Transportation Director who announced plans to "reduce the walk zone down from one and a half to one" mile
Lillian Fox - Community member who criticized lack of transparency: "You have some wonderful principals and you have some real stinkers."
Students from Miles ELC including Georgia Stevie, Charlotte Welbank, Myam Cloud, and Ruin Chunker who presented research on problematic school namesakes
Jose Gonzalez - CRPI teacher mentor who reminded the board: "From the 1968 student walkouts at Tucson High School led by Chicano UofA students... To the 1978 Fisher-Mendoza desegregation order, we fought back and built programs rooted in educational justice."
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